writing directions on how to cook an egg, (Don’t ask-this was his thing)

making Uno cards, (This was, once again, Alexander’s own idea and I love them)

swinging in the hall over the mattresses that are covered in street fabric, so the person who is not swinging can play with the Matchbox cars

and losing teeth. The second one is hanging but I’m not allowed to pull it out like I did with the first one. I can’t understand why. Hehe (NO, I didn’t pull it, but I did tickle him until it fell out)

ETA: They are now gone!! Those mean front teeth. The second one finally fell out while we were eating, so there was no tickling going on. We now have a real pumpkin.

Posted by Kimberly under Family , PartiesComments Off on The Halloween party that was not to be

Yep, you heard that correctly, we did not have a party. Well, not in our apartment anyway. You see, on Monday after work we all came home early to bake, cook, decorate and just get in the mood for Halloween. We worked until the kids went to bed and then I worked until I went to bed in order to get this place good enough for a witch or two.

Well, Tuesday morning we woke up to Alida complaining that her tongue hurt. We looked in her mouth and lo and behold her tongue was a bit swollen and just plain funny looking. I took her to the doctor first thing because I didn’t have to teach until 10. The doctor told us that she had the highly contagious hand foot mouth virus which meant kindergarten and parties were out of the question.

So, I rushed to school to tell them that I wouldn’t be in this week and to quickly write up some substitution plans with poor little Alida in tow. I was told I have to go back to work tomorrow because it’s parent teacher conferences and I have a few parents to torture, so Martin’s staying home with our sick little monster.

We did decide to come home and finish the cakes and decorating and then I made some pumpkin sandwiches for dinner, so we didn’t have to forgo the party altogether. I also called two of my friends with babies to tell them not to come at all. My other two good friends have kids that were just so excited we decided to go trick-or-treating anyway. Alida was doing fairly well and even put her costume on herself, so it was a bit of a success. We also managed to get a few pics so here they are.

First we had a carrot cake ghost decorated by the little man.

Then we had some bloody hot dog fingers. Don’t they look gross?

Of course, we also had a little cat litter cake. The recipe is found here. I didn’t do the green food coloring but I did the two cakes and pudding together with melted Tootsie Rolls on top. Thanks, Linda!!!

Here are some bugs on cookies. Alexander made the bugs with the eyes himself and I melted the chocolate with coconut, raisins and pretzels to make other bugs that turned out to look like giant poohs. Oh well, it grossed us out so much we left them like that. They were yummy!!!

We also had some pumpkin sandwiches I made using a pumpkin cookie cutter. You see, my plan was to feed the kids hot dogs and sandwiches before we took out the goodies. My friend and her son had a sandwich and some cat litter in the hallway while waiting for the other trick-or-treaters to arrive. I didn’t dare let anyone in this virus infested apartment.

Here are my two favorite trick-or-treaters and Alexander’s picture of me. I was Laura from Little House on the Prairie which I had made last year. Alexander and I painted the H on his shirt using wax paper and I have to admit it’s a really cool technique. Christina, I’ll give you some of my paper if you want. I bought tons of it and it’s sooo fun to do with the kids.

Just a bit of the decorations which, as you may notice, are from last year.

Here is the princess crown I made along with the ‘wooden’ magic wand Martin made using a brown paper bag and some brown crayons. I thought they came out pretty well. The kids were definitely happy so it was worth it.

Just an action shot. I think you can tell Harry was having a great time.

Here is one last look at my two favorite people-Harry and the princess.

Thank you all for joining my contest. We pulled names from the caldron (actually I wrote down all the numbers from the comments on a piece of paper and had the kids pick 3 numbers) and the oscar goes to sock pattern goes to:

Then I’ll show you our water world. I went out last week and bought 55 blue balloons, to represent water, which Martin blew up and hung from the ceiling. Don’t worry, we had one of those hand pumps for balloons which is one of the best things I’ve ever bought.
Hanging between the balloons were fish, lobsters, crabs and even a hook with a worm on it. Oh and some seaweed made out of crepe paper.

The food was yummy! Surprisingly, the kids loved the carrots, cucumbers and dip the best. The gummy fish hanging from pretzel stick fishing poles were at a close second.

Each child had a name tag with a figure from the Nemo movie on it. Alida helped me with these too.

After we ate, we played fishing for the Nemo character. I had made cardboard pictures of each character with a paper clip on top. They then fished with a magnetic fishing pole. I had cards with a tire, old sneaker and seaweed in there too. Yep, that’s me among the masses. Aren’t those some adorable kids?? They were a great group.

We also played the egg game I had bought in the States this summer. There’s no need to have real broken eggs on the floor, right?

One of the cutest parts of the party was Alexander’s puppet show. At first, the kids watched and loved it, but then they wanted to have a show of their own. It was adorable. They really didn’t need me to entertain them.

As a thank you Alida gave each child a goodie bag. We had found a glowing Nemo necklace at a 1 EURO store which was just perfect. Hey they found Nemo!
Of course, those cat paws weren’t included. Zindy is always at my side.

I’m off to knit and try to loosen up these lungs with hot tea and a bath. Thanks for the tips, Alianne and Gina!

Posted by Kimberly under FamilyComments Off on Einschulung (starting school)

With the start of school there is a fun German custom of giving their little ones heading off to school a large cone (Schultüte) filled with sweets to ease the transition from pre-school to the real thing – school. It’s believed that these sweets will make it so much more appealing.

Alexander has been going to school for a week now, he loves it, and just yesterday was his Einschulung. There was a ceremony at his school, where we took lots of pictures, and then a party with family and friends back at home. Einschulung, which ranks up there with christenings, graduations or confirmations here in Germany is a really big event.
It is so important that If someone only has one picture of himself when he was little, you can pretty much bet it’s the one of the Einschulung with their school cone in their arms. Martin and I took the day off for the occasion and it was just so cute. Hey, who am I to pass up a reason to celebrate?

Here is Alexander with his favorite Uropa (great-grandfather). Uroma (his great-grandmother) wouldn’t get in a picture. These two are my life savers. When I have to work and the kids don’t have a place to go, this is where they land and they love it! Look at that smile, he loves his Uropa.
As you can imagine the school cone is the most important thing and some people go way out to decorate them. Alexander had told me that he wanted to have a Harry Potter cone, so last week I managed to keep my eyes open long enough each night (we’re talking a little after 8 p.m.)to work on it. Of course, Alida got a miniature cone too.

Here are the finished cones before the ceremony, full of good stuff and some Playmobil, no less. That is supposed to be fire around the top. I liked how they turned out and quite a few kids even recognized him. One dad took a picture of them-now that’s a compliment in my book.

I also took some pictures of the class before the ceremony and after they got their cones and were singing songs in their classroom. His teacher is so funny, she even had yellow school bus earrings and necklace.

I’ve also been sewing and knitting but I have no pictures quite yet. I have a sewing pattern coming, so if you’re interested in a pattern for a travel needle case, hang tight, I’ll be finishing it soon.

I’ve been feeling a bit exhausted lately, and even slept for 3 hours yesterday after the party. I’m trying to fight off the colds that seem to be attacking everyone around me.